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The Matrix Online
Servers (Monolith pre-merge) *Linenoise *Proxy *Output *Regression *Heuristic *Input *Enumerator *Iterator *Method Servers (present/ post-merge) *Vector is a Hostile server. Unlike the other servers where PVP is optional, players are flagged for fighting after they reach level 16. Vector is composed of players from the Enumerator, Heuristic, and Input servers *Syntax is a non hostile server. Syntax is composed of players based from the Linenoise, Proxy, and Output servers. *Recursion is a non hostile server. Recursion is composed of players based from the Method, Regression, and Iterator servers. Story and Events Race to find the One The first major event to occur in The Matrix Online was a "race" between the three organizations to gather Neo's RSI fragments. The organization that collected the most in a week received a defense bonus. Different organizations won on different servers. Shapers were found that could maniputate the RSI fragments into the shape of Neo's mental projection. Unfortunately some shapers were captured by a fourth party (believed to be the General). Those shapers were forced to create super-Agents which the organizations worked together to defeat. Morpheus has also complained that the physical remains of Neo were never returned to Zion from the Machine City (Zero One), yet cryptically, the Machines have said that they did not recycle Neo's remains either. Red-eyed Agents The second major event a week later was the appearance of Agents with glowing red eyes. These Agents appeared mysteriously and began attacking all humans, including those allied with the Machines. None of the three factions claimed to be controlling the red eyed Agents, and some believe they serve a new fourth organization. They attacked anyone with an RSI code fragment ("contraband fragments") or anyone attempting to defend them. Later, a message from the Oracle indicated that "intruders" angered by the Truce are behind this, and that somehow Neo split himself up into fragments within the Matrix knowing that it was needed for the future. However, the only way to put Neo's code back together is with the help of programs known as Shapers. Fighting then broke out between the factions for control of Shapers, leading to the Red Eyed Agents capturing a Shaper in the confusion, which allowed them to create a new breed of red eyed agents: "N30 Ag3nts". Soon Niobe sent a message to players to fight the menace along with a new wave of agents which bore a strong resemblance to Neo. Nightfall The third major event, Nightfall, began with the kidnapping of two important leaders from vampire-like and werewolf-like Exile gangs (the Blood-drinkers and the Lupines, respectively). It was soon revealed that Malphas and his Lupine counterpart Ookami had not been kidnapped at all, but were hiding from the Merovingian. Upon returning, they led a revolt of both gangs against the Merovingian's domination of all Exiles, attempting to rally many humans to their cause. However, while Malphas was absent his subordinate, Invalesco, attempted an underhanded power grab against him, promising to turn humans that joined him into immortal 'vampires' with his source code. He was unsuccessful: upon Malphas's return, Invalesco was hunted down and killed. Amidst this infighting, the Merovingian was able to defeat the uprising and capture Malphas and Ookami. Subjected to torture in the Frenchman's Chateau, they were (for now at least) bent back to his service out of fear, and the attacks ended. Hunt for Morpheus Morpheus stepped up his quest to convince the Machines to return Neo's body. By planting specially coded bombs near places where redpill players were likely to gather (usually hardlines, but later on or near monuments), the bombs would detonate and, while they did no physical damage to the Matrix, spread a virus to any redpills caught in the blast. This virus was designed to reveal the underlying code, showing the bluepills the true nature of the Matrix, causing them to reject it as real, and possibly crashing the system. All organizations were out to kill him. Agents patrolled the streets, as did the Lupines and Blood Drinkers. Another mysterious group emerged during this time, called Cypherites by many players, consisting of masked humans. Not only did they sabotage hardlines to trap people in the Matrix, but they also rabidly hunted Morpheus. Players rushed to defuse Morpheus' bombs in order to protect the truce, while others fought to protect the bombs. On the sixth day of the ten-day event, tragedy struck. Morpheus met a mysterious assassin as he set one of his final bombs in a waste water treatment plant. He fled the initial attack, only to be caught off guard when the Assassin caught up to him, apparently able to bend the rules of the Matrix as he slipped through a narrow vent in front of him. He was unable to dodge the onslaught of gunshots. Morpheus was dead. Niobe met with leaders from the machines, who denied involvement. She later formed a faction of her own to track down who had sent the Assassin. The hunt for Morpheus' Assassin was on. Soon, exiles called Corrupted began to appear throughout the Matrix, attacking players at random. It was later discovered that these programs were created by the Assassin in his own image using a "corrupted virus", meaning that the programs' bodies were composed of flies, just like his. During the chaos that ensued with the attacks, Agent Skinner, liaison to the Machinist redpills, was permanently deleted by the Assassin. Soon, players found documents on the Corrupted that were attacking them, and piecing the information together from it they learned that killing Morpheus had not been the Assassin's ultimate goal. The Corrupted were designed to destabilize the Matrix upon death, and by releasing them en masse, the Assassin hoped that players killing them would completely destroy the Matrix. The event culminated with much larger versions of the Corrupted, called Complete Corrupted, who could only be destroyed by special pesticide items. All players of all organizations put aside their differences and worked together to defeat these massive programs and restore order to the Matrix. However, with the event over and order restored, one thing remains: the Assassin is still at large. Following the permanent deletion of Agent Skinner, the Machines activated a new Agent as his replacement, Agent Pace. Agent Pace is a 'new style' of Agent, most notably in two ways. First, it is more emotionally expressive. Second, "it" is a "she"; Agent Pace is the first 'female' Agent. Pace's behavior is markedly different from previous models of Agents because she was designed to be "more human". Pace actually smiles on occasion, and behaves almost benevolently toward human redpills under her authority. A Machine hidden message from Agent Pace can be found on the official site, in the "Sentinel" fake newspaper page, by finding the hidden link associated with "the Machines"; a picture of her is also there. She seems to have the odd (for an Agent) habit of falling into using Italian words frequently when she is speaking. It's notable that "pace" is Latin for "with peace", commonly taken to mean that no offence is intended by the speaker. Choice and Consequence The crew of the hovercraft Novalis II must try to save the life of their crewmate, Neurophyte. This scenario had alternate endings which played out differently on the separate game servers. However, with the later merger of the 9 servers into 3, plot continuity errors occurred. Walrus, an administrator for The Matrix Online, has stated that the storyline will be dropped instead of fixing the plot conflict Double Cross The Cypherites, masked redpills that want to be put back into the Matrix like Cypher once did, begin a string of attacks led by Gemaskeerd and Enmascarado. In the end Enmascarado is killed by the Assassin, releasing a flame virus attached to his body, and Novalis II crewmember Toorima is revealed as a Cypherite leader called Veil, but not before she is able to kill her crewmate Vashuo. Death of the Destroyer Eventually, the Redpill forces create a weapon that can kill the bug-based Assassin - Insecticide. Realizing his immiment doom is quickly approaching, the Assassin split himself into multiple, weakened copies, which all spread out across the Megacity to do as much damage as possible, in the hopes of destroying the Matrix before he was deleted. As battle raged across the city, the Redpills managed to destroy all but one copy of the Assassin, of whom Niobe and an unnamed operative chased down and destroyed. In the aftermath, Niobe creates her own splinter faction dedicated to the deletion of the Merovingian, who had allegedly hired the Assassin originally. The Enigma of Cryptos The Sentinel newspaper says that soon, boxes will appear around the Megacity as part of an "amazement" by a bluepill street magician, Cryptos. A Zion hidden message is in the same Sentinel, and says that Cryptos was the name of a Zion operative who disappeared not long ago. Shortly afterward, boxes appear around the MegaCity as the newspaper said, which opened every two hours with Cryptos inside, who then gives a speech that sounds like it could be Cypherite propaganda, though he never mentions things very specifically. Operatives are sent on missions, and find some clues connecting the Cypherites with Cryptos. Veil of Cryptos Veil is broken out of the Zion prison, and as it turns out, she is the Cypherite mission controller. It is also discovered that Cryptos is the Cypherites' leader. The Merovingian makes something of a truce with the Cypherites, but worked against them as it suited his purposes. The Cypherites eventually discovered this, and their truce was broken. Meanwhile, Zion's main agenda is taking down the Merovingian, and the General's men create more powerful versions of the holy water, silver bullet, and wooden stake killcode items for killing exiles. Meanwhile, The Kid founds a splinter group of Zionites, "E Pluribus Neo" (with his controller, Shimada). This organization is deeply loyal to Neo's vision of freeing humanity and violently opposed to the Cypherites. A Piece of Blue Sky Major Event taking place during May 09 through May 16 2006. Operatives are directed to report any unusual occurrences to their commanding officer (liaison) immediately. There has been much activity in the Matrix leading up to the Anniversary Event, and anticipation is growing amongst redpills across the world. It is rumored that there are disruptions in the Code; Veil and Shimida have been known to discuss the issue to Redpills on the Recursion and Syntax Instance of the Matrix. Also, it has been introduced that there are splinter organizations within the Cypherites and E Pluribus Neo who are willing to go to even further extremes to achieve their goals. While much is going on among all organizations, Niobe and The General are formulating an attack on the Merovingian. With the appearance of the extremist Cypherites known as "Sleepwalkers" attacking unsuspecting redpills in every alley, the activity within the Matrix increases, with many believing the newly sprung concert sites are linked to the Sleepwalkers somehow. On the final day of the event, the concert began, and many redpills do indeed have their worst fears realized. A message blasts out from the speakers, threatening all redpills around and telling them to prepare for reinsertion. Moments later the Sleepwalkers appear en masse to attack the redpills gathered in the parks, or rather to distract them, as the huge concert lights blast out an eerie blue light, destabilizing the Matrix around them. Security officers of a redpill nature appear to fight off the redpills at the lights and re-activate them at every opportunity they get. However, no matter how dire the situation became, the redpills managed to defeat the Sleepwalkers and re-route the power of the lights back into the Sleepwalker forces, re-inserting their bodies but leaving the rest of the redpills unharmed. With the enemies defeated, organizational leaders appeared to congratulate their operatives, and the parties began. Grabbing the General's Stolen Items Now that a firm alliance between Zion and the Commandos is placed between them, the General offers Zion two items that he stole from the Machines (with Zion being unaware of it at the time) under the guise of "cheat codes." Anome, a Zion operative working under Niobe's command, swats out a key as the General throws it to Niobe. In critical missions, the Zion operatives work on recovering the key, while the Machines try to recover it, and Merv operatives attempt to gain it for themselves. On the Vector instance, Zion manages to grab the package from the messenger. Shortly after recovering the key, the Zion operatives give the key to Niobe. The Machine operatives commence a "First Strike" operation against the General by capturing the heliport in Morrell. Saving Captain Niobe Niobe tests out the chemical vials in the package while inside the Bishop Imports building, only to be betrayed by Anome. Every Zion operative that attended this particular meeting are killed in the resulting gunfight. Niobe is trapped on the 29th floor, and all means of reaching her floor have vanished due to a firewall created by the vials. With Ghost playing the role of negotiator, Zion is forced to create a temporary alliance with the Merovingian in order to trace Niobe. Machine operatives do a damage assessment investigation on the effects of the chemicals ingested by Anome's operatives. On the Recursion instance, the efforts given from the critical missions helped Ghost lead a successful rescue operation of Niobe. On the Vector Instance, the General makes a permanent disappearance from the Matrix shortly after Machine operatives catch up to him, hinting at a vague return in the future. Anome's Unlimit After Anome and his men retrieve the case of cheat codes, they drink them and gain super powers and green-glowing, code-dripping eyes. Anome's men, having no limits to their powers, are named the UNLIMIT by Anome. Anome is no longer considered an operative and is labeled by Zion and the Machines as a rogue and a terrorist. Recently, the Unlimit soldiers have been focusing on killing Bluepills by means of taking down the company Pendhurst-Amaranth (P-A), who supply Bluepills with Tastee-Wheat, and manage their water supply. Thanks to numerous missions by Redpills of all organizations, most attempts have failed, though the Zion correspondent from P-A, Brenda Utley, has gone missing. Attempts are being made to track her down and rescue her before Unlimit kill her. There has also been increased Unlimit activity in all areas of the Matrix. Brenda Utley has been rescued by EPN operatives on the Syntax Instance, with the last critical mission on this chapter stating that she found out about an Unlimit mole within the Board of directors. Zion operatives follow up on the lead, trying to eliminate the mole. On the Machines' perspective, they were given a lead by an Unlimit operative named Meillak who had information on Anome's whereabouts. However, Anome caught on and had his loyal operatives attack Meillak. The machine operatives eventually decrypt the clues from various sources on Anome's whereabouts. On the Merovingian's side of things, the Merovingian attempted to synthesize the cheat codes extracted from Beirn, an Unlimit officer who had an obsession with Persephone, but the attempts had failed as Machine operatives had destroyed the manufacturing equipment. As a result of testing the code, the Merovingian was able to detect fragments of the Twins' RSI, with operatives being sent to recover them. At the end of this chapter, the Twins are back and fully functional. Morpheus' Return? An operative reported a private message he received from someone claiming to be Morpheus: 'I am Morpheus... Captain of Zion...Urgent message for all Zionites...Neo...Not dead...Machine City...hurt...Machines...Return Neo...'. The message was relayed to others. Some either believed it wholeheartedly or attempted to reveal it as a fake. Following up on the rumours came the report that Seraph had been frantically searching Moriah Projects for someone. This was followed soon afterwards by EPN and Cypherite operatives investigating the claims, searching the area that the operative had reported getting the message. EPN forces began to use 'Code Pulse Devices' around the city; devices that, although similar to the code bombs that had been used previously by Morpheus, are harmless to bluepills, and are simply a way to extract sensitive information from the Matrix. Despite interference from Cypherite and Machine forces, EPN had discovered something vitally important. Over the past 8 months, at three different points in the city, at three different times, a signal had been appearing in the Matrix. Not matching any known code configuration, the signal did, however, have a signal associated with it, that of a Zion hovercraft Captains' beacon signal. Collaborating with Ghost and Zion Control, Shimada and EPN operatives discovered that the signal belonged to the Nabonidus' Captains' Beacon; Morpheus, the captain. EPN's leader, The Kid, contacted Niobe and requested a meeting in Moriah Projects. Surrounded by Zionites and EPN followers, The Kid attempted to show Niobe his belief in Morpheus' still being alive by placing a Code Pulse Device at his feet; supposedly during a time when he believed the signal would appear again. For an hour, Niobe, afraid that she and the Zionite forces being near the Device would pose a threat to the Truce, attempted to persuade The Kid to disable the device. Her fears growing, Niobe eventually tried to disable the device herself, but instead was unable to go near the device due to a suppression field being placed by the crew of the 'Neo's Hope', The Kid's hovercraft. Upon detonation, a shimmering RSI appeared. Some claimed the outline was very similar to Morpheus, and the same witnesses all agreed that the RSI was severely injured. The Kid suddenly vanished, leaving Niobe, the Zionites and EPN followers to flee from the quick retaliation of the Agents. Meanwhile, the Merovingian noticed that profits had been dropping severely in the neighborhoods of Richland. Investigating a known trouble-maker Exile leader by the name of Silver led operatives to his rival in business, an inventor by the name of Mercury. Mercury denied holding back profits and stated that another enemy of his, Thallia, had been disrupting his business. The Merovingian ordered the Twins to interrogate her, which yielded information on where Mercury's workers were taking their business affairs, to his former lover, a promiscious Exile by name of Raini. The oblivious Raini revealed that Thallia and Mercury were actually working together. Malphas led a force to dilvuge information out of an Exile leader working for Thallia, who told the Merovingian that they had been hired by Anti M. After torturing Mercury and Thallia, and blackmailing Anti M's lover, Beryl, the Twins found her, where they learned that she had been hired by none other than the General, who had mysteriously vanished months ago. As for reasons behind the General hiring Anti M, it is highly probable that it was to help facilitate observations on Sati, as hinted in the 6.1 Cinematic. The General's Attack While Zion and the Machines were busy with negotiations, and the Mervovingian busy getting business back in order, a strike force of Commandos kidnap Sati. Seraph jumps aboard a Black Hawk helicopter to fight her captors, only to be knocked off the helicopter falling into the Aquaduct. Meanwhile, shortly after recovering the vials, the Agents that killed Anome dropped the vials into the river, the reason for which is currently unknown. Zion has ordered operatives to protect the Oracle while fighting off regular and Elite Commandos (Commandos in a sneaking suit with single-lensed thermal goggles), as well as periodical Merovingian attacks. The Oracle gives Zion operatives cryptic hints on how do deal with the General, that they would have to find a way to bait him out of hiding. The Machines investigate into the kidnapping to find out that the helicopter was unmanned, but operated by remote control. As a result, EPN operatives on the Syntax instance attempt to disrupt two other helipads with code pulse devices in order to reduce the number of operable helicopters, which was a success. The Machines also manufactured a virus in order to track down the locations of the General, and learned of a commando base in the real world, code named "Stalingrad". Taking advantage of the chaos, the Merovingian attempts to extort the Oracle, but fails. Frustrated by the Oracle's refusal, he turns to numerous Exile contacts to get access to the kill-codes for the Oracle's current shell, but none of the contacts had the means nor interest to aid the Merovingian. As an act of desperation, the Merovingian turns to the General and requests for an alliance. As a result, the General accepts the Merovingian's request. The Return of Seraph The 7.1 Cinematic revealed a wet return from the river for Seraph. Emerging from the Bathary Row access node, Seraph approached three redpills and attacked one, MoonAvatar, without provocation. As MoonAvatar fell to the ground, Seraph performed what could only be described as a 'code exorcism', placing his foot on the neck, his hands over the body and extracting some unknown code from the victim. So began Seraph's spree of attacks across the Megacity, both Red and Bluepill, without a word to anyone. Each victim would recover eventually, and would not remember the past few months. Although Seraph's attacks seemed random, after a few days a group of redpills managed to approach him and asked him for his reasons behind the attacks. Seraph, who now sported a dirty coat, and a yellow code aura around his head, stated that he saw a 'dangerous deception' something that he could see because a 'veil had been lifted from his eyes', and that he had a new, more important purpose than guarding the Oracle. The attacks still continue, but with suprising results. The Cypherites, with their leader, Cryptos, were approached by Seraph whilst on their way to a bluepill that had been attacked. Without warning, Seraph attacked Cryptos, knocked him down, and escaped. Cryptos began to act strangely, with his glasses and trademark bluepill knocked off, his eyes became black, only showing yellow code on his eyeballs. Blind, Cryptos began to lose control of his speech, calling for fellow Redpills and Veil, the other Cypherite leader. As the Redpills around him tried to aid their leader, he began shouting 'INPUT ERROR, RUNTIME ERROR, OPTIC ERROR'. As Veil ordered her crew in the real to pull his jack, it became clear that he had been a machine from the start, although who he was originally working for is still unclear. It turned out that Seraph only attacked operatives and bluepills that were over-written by the Machines sometime in the past (similar to the Smith virus). Apparently, as a result, Zion is slowly becoming distrustful of the Machines. On the Merovingian's side of things, his organization is attempting to get kill-codes to the Oracle's shell again. His new-found ally, The General, has stated that a cheat code vial is required as an ingredient, and only an Exile called The Apothecary can manufacture the kill-code with the vial. After recovering a vial from a bluepill named Jason Hernandez, looking for the Apothecary was problematic, as the Machines held The Apothecary inside a construct that only The Trainman can reach. As a result, The Merovingian has his operatives search for The Trainman. Story Rumors * Neo's ultimate fate has been openly called into question as Morpheus has pointed out that his remains were never returned from 01 (the Machine City) back to Zion, but at the same time the Machines have commented that they did not recycle (liquify for re-use) his body. On an interesting note, there is a newspaper clipping found during a Zion critical mission about a 27-year-old woman named Sarah Edmontons (an anagram for "Thomas Anderson") waking up from a coma and leaving the hospital on her own. In the text, there was a note written on it asking, "Is this him?" Furthermore, on the Machines' recent set of critical missions, it turned out that Edmontons does not exist in any known database, therefore supporting the speculation that Edmontons is Neo. Although no outright comments have been made, developers have hinted that Edmontons will play a role in the future. ** Further rumors of Neo's return have sprouted recently, since the Machines have placed Neo's supposedly partially reconstructed RSI in a fight club in Gracy Heights in Westview. This has fueled the idea that Neo is still alive; however, many redpills believe that the RSI is simply a distraction from Neo's ultimate fate. ** There have been recent (as of April 2007) appearances of Morpheus' signal within Megacity, claiming that Neo is still alive someplace and that the Machines have him. * Excerpts of a "journal" written by the Assassin claims that it was a program in charge of recycling human corpses in the power plants before it went rogue to become an Exile program. They claimed that while the Assassin was still in charge of recycling, it received a command expressly forbidding it to recycle Trinity's body. * Recently, in a Machine critical mission, operatives were informed of the origins of the General. It was revealed that when leading the final attack on Zion, he wanted to continue the attack, even after the truce had been brokered, disobeying orders. Forcibly removed from command, he was put into another post but instead chose to become an exile in the Matrix, utilising a terminal on the surface to gain access; with no foreseen need for an administrative override function, bringing his commandos with him. * It is commonly suggested that Agent Smith still exists within the Matrix. Most of these have come about from the various hints that are communicated through the Live Events. For example, on the Syntax instance, former liaison officer DifferenceEngine had to be arrested following his apparent infection (notable from his vocabulary). Further fuel was added to the fire through various hints that Agent Gray, the Machine mission controller, is infected, notable from one of the critical missions in the Hunt for the Assassin event where he possessed the tell-tale vocabulary and acted with un-program-like anger. In addition, Shane Black on the Recursion instance was seemingly taken over by the Smith program, as suggested by his vocabulary, though this was only a resurgence of memories from his previous Smith infection, brought on by observing Unlimits fighting in the Aqueduct. He was later killed. * Another Liaison officer, TaeCross from the EPN's Recursion instance, was rumored to be working with Morpheus a full year after his last known sighting. After poor dealings with the Machines and repeated setbacks, TaeCross acted out in a Morpheus-like attack of code bombs on the city. It is strongly rumored that since the code bomb technology hasn't been seen since Morpheus' disappearance, TaeCross got this technology directly from Morpheus himself. TaeCross unleashed a final set of 8 code bombs simultaneously at the steps of the First Union Church in Camon Central. His final where-abouts were left unknown. It is also of note that TaeCross is an anagram of Socrates. SOE Criticisms While the developers continue to work on and improve The Matrix Online, there are still strong areas of criticism created when the game transitioned to SOE. Firstly, Live Events hugely changed focus to a much smaller 'supporting' content medium instead of the main story-telling device of the 'Monolith days' (this is due to the Live Events Team and 2/3s of of game's development team being laid-off in the game's transition from Monolith to SOE in August 2005) Of course, this change in the game's story telling model, and it's subsequent results on the game as a whole, is entirely open for debate and is somewhat of a 'hot topic' amongst players. Another result of the team downsizing is that each individual Live Event has been made 'one time only' affairs, each contributing to a single greater storyline continuum. Thus the events are now server-exclusive as opposed to being accessible on all servers when the game was under Monolith Productions. Also, due to a lack of a dedicated Live Events Team, the events are normally held during regular office hours in the United States (9:00 A.M.-7:00 P.M. PST). Players in Europe and Asia continue to criticize the fact attendance is rather difficult due to the timezone difference